Hancock Women Open Season Friday At Home Against Porterville

The Allan Hancock College women's basketball team will look to take advantage of opening the 2015-16 season on its home court. The Bulldogs star the season Friday, Nov. 6, at 11 a.m. against Porterville. Hancock will face West Hills Lemoore on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games will take place in Joe White Memorial Gymnasium.

"Preseason games will provide a gauge by which we can measure our progress as a team and on an individual-basis," said third-year head coach Cary Nerelli. "We will use the preseason to let our starting lineup and rotation fall into place. The goal is to peak headed into conference."

The Bulldogs return five players from last year's team that went 12-16 overall and finished fifth in Western State Conference action.  Guard Marissa Torres (Templeton HS), as well as forwards Michaila Miller (Santa Barbara HS) and Ashley Daher received the most significant playing time as freshman.

Nerelli described Torres as a threat on the perimeter, as well as a quiet model of leadership and the ultimate team player. Torres averaged seven points and three rebounds as a freshman. She hit 35.1 percent of her three-point shots. Nerelli said he looked for Miller and Daher, two players who understand his system of play, to improve upon last year's performances.  Miller averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while Daher averaged 1.3 points per contest.

Sophomore guards Leanna Araujo (Pioneer Valley HS) and JJ Carlotti (St. Joseph HS), as well as freshman Janessa Hernandez (Pioneer Valley HS) will help to provide depth for the Bulldogs.

Nerelli said he was excited to see how freshmen Destinee Garcia (Golden West HS), a 5'9" forward; Ne'Chelle Martinez (AJ Dimond); 5'6" guard Syenna Ramirez (St. Joseph HS); 5'10" forward Kelly McClain (Martin Luther King HS); and forward Kaelah Mundley (Mission Oak HS) performed in the preseason.

"Destinee and Kelly will both start the season opener," said Nerelli. "Destinee is a solid inside and outside player who is an outstanding athlete. Kelly has tremendous raw athleticism and is still learning the system."

Just how athletic is McClain? She was the only female on the high school football team at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School.

"Syenna and Ne'Chelle have both shown tremendous leadership and court awareness. I am excited to see what they can do on the court this season," he added.

Last year, West Hills defeated Hancock 73-45 in both teams' season openers. Porterville finished 6-21 last season, while West Hills went 20-10.